I live in Huntsville, Al. I have a friend who lives near Steubenville, Oh. She has told me that she has found large human-like footprints on her property several times over the past few years. Her son and nephew had a sighting of a Bigfoot a year ago. Now, she says that over the past week and a half or so, she has been experiencing some things. One of her sons and she went out in the woods behind her house 10 days ago or so, and she felt like she was being watched. Shortly afterwards, she smelled something that she described as "rotting garbage." Then, she heard a loud knocking noise nearby. She described it as sounding like a log being banged against a tree. She noticed leaves stripped off trees that were out of her reach. And, she said to me that the sounds, and the feeling of being watched have continued to the present time. I asked her if it was OK that I contacted you, and she said that was fine. I then asked her if she would be willing to talk to someone about these happenings. She said yes. But, she feels a little uncomfortable about this, and wants me to be sort of a liaison. I told her I would email this in, then you can contact me, and I'll keep her updated. I wanted to tell you ASAP, in case you had an investigator who could run by there before these happenings quit. I'm not sure at this time, but I think if the investigation was discreet, she would allow one on her property. I'll have to talk with her some more about that. Or, if she's comfortable, maybe I can arrange for one of you to talk with her personally.

OTHER WITNESSES: Four total.

OTHER STORIES: I read your website regularly; therefore I know some other sightings and experiences near Steubenville. I'm not sure about her. As a matter of fact, a friend and I launched our own little investigation near her place recently, at Beaver Creek State Park. This was in April. Heard some weird calls that night, but probably coyotes.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: The bulk of the incidents seem to be concentrated after it rains.

ENVIRONMENT: Their property is an open field on one side, trees on the other and a large tract of woods in the back. The property across the street drops of dramatically into a large ravine with a small creek. The creek then leads into a much larger hollow that has a good size stream running through it with heavily wooded hillsides going for miles to the Northeast. Typical foothills of the Appalachians.

Follow-up investigation report:

I have spoken with the actual witnesses on multiple occasions and am convinced that they had bigfoot activity on their property. While back in the woods behind their home, the mother noticed the trees stripped of the leaves and a strange smell in the air. Her son noticed the smell and told his Mom that something didn't feel right about the area. They both felt like they were being watched by something but never saw anything. Then, the sound of wood striking wood began around them, which scared them very much and caused them to flee the area. On another occasion a few years ago, large barefoot tracks were found in the field by their house. At the time they didn't think much of them.

In spring of 2003, her son was the first one to find footprints across the street from their house. He came home to let her know what he had found. The mother and grandmother went with him to the location and witnessed a series of eight to ten tracks with very long strides. They were going through some mud into a grass field that headed toward another wood line. The tracks were "huge" according to the mother. She estimated over 17 inches long and 8 inches wide at the toes. I asked her how many toes or claws? She responded they were more human-like with five toes, and no claw marks evident. She was very impressed with the width of the tracks and how long the strides were.

Not too long after that, her son and nephew were playing behind the lot across the street heading toward a creek in the valley below. As they came upon the creek, they heard something big moving through the brush. At first, they thought it was a deer. They came to the deepest part of the creek where the water pools and took their shoes off to wade in the water. The nephew happened to look at the other side of the creek and saw a large creature standing there staring at the two of them. He froze and pointed at the creature on the other side of creek. Her son looked up and could see this thing watching the two of them. It was very dark brown in color and looked to be standing there behind some bushes. The boys stood there for what seemed a minute staring at the creature. Then, the nephew took off without warning while her son went to grab his shoes. The son claimed he could hear it moving again which freaked him out. He ran as fast as he could up to the top of the hill where his cousin was waiting. When he got up to the top of the hill, they both looked down and could see the creature moving through the brush. It was walking in an upright position the whole time they viewed it. The two boys described it as a large monkey or gorilla.

The mother noted that it seems the majority of all incidents have happened after it rains. They've been hearing strange sounds for over three years on the backside of their property. They could never figure out what it was until the son found the tracks across the street, and the two boys had the sighting. She feels the nasty smell and strange wood-knocking sounds they encountered is definitely related to what the boys saw.